Why Was Britain Able To Win The Battle Of Britain

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Introduction

Why was Britain able to win the Battle of Britain? The Battle of Britain was an air war fought between the British RAF and German Luftwaffe which lasted from July 1st 1940 to October 1940. There were many factors which helped Britain win the battle, strengths of the British, weaknesses of the Germans. However it was a very close and costly battle for the British. Britain's greatest strength, and probably the main reason why Britain won the battle was their RAF leader, Sir Hugh Dowding. He was a veteran ace-flyer from World War I who had been due to retire from his position before World War II but had been persuaded to stay in control of the air force. He had been devising Britain's aerial defence since 1936, which gave Britain a great strength over the Germans in those few months of battle. ...read more.

Middle

The Germans had thought they had destroyed the British radars after several successful hits, but the radars were only damaged, and could be repaired quickly. Another technology the British developed which the Germans didn't have was the 'bullet proof aircraft windscreen'. It gave the RAF a slight advantage in dog fights and helped Britain hold of the German Luftwaffe advance. The tactics of the British were also superior to the Germans. Hermann Goering kept changing his bombing targets, not allowing enough time to thoroughly destroy individual targets so that the British could just repair instead of rebuild. He made a massive mistake though in accidentally bombing London. Churchill ordered a retaliation attack on the Germany capital Berlin the following night. The British bombers blitzed Berlin and its citizens very badly. Another mistake of Goering was to launch a huge Luftwaffe air armada to try and defeat the British RAF once and for all, but this attack failed and the Luftwaffe was significantly weakened. ...read more.

Conclusion

The Germans also failed miserably to protect their bomber aircraft, leaving them as easy targets for British fighters. The Luftwaffe bombers also carried too few amounts of fuel, enough to guarantee them merely 30 minutes of flying time over Britain. A further British strength was with pilots. As the battle was happening over Britain any British pilots who bailed out could land safely and go back into service. But German pilots who bailed out would become POW's, and no longer be of use to the Luftwaffe. And although the British pilots were outnumbered and exhausted, they possessed great courage and resolve and managed to fight of the German onslaught. In conclusion, Britain's great air force leader Dowding helped them immensely to win the Battle of Britain through his superb leadership and tactics, whilst Luftwaffe leader Goering lacked the ability to lead as successfully. The British also developed vital technologies like the radar which helped them greatly. The RAF also possessed better weapons and pilots than the Germans. ...read more.

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